What's On Today

By KATHRYN SHATTUCK

Published: September 11, 2010

10 P.M. (Cinemax) SHERLOCK HOLMES(2009) Robert Downey Jr., above right, and Jude Law, above left, adorn themselves with varying amounts of facial hair to play Arthur Conan Doyle's crack sleuth and his sidekick. Mr. Downey portrays Holmes, and Mr. Law plays Watson in this adaptation from Guy Ritchie, set in ''a smoky, greasy, steam-punk rendering of Victorian London, full of soot and guts and bad teeth and period clothes,'' A. O. Scott wrote in The New York Times. Rachel McAdams is Irene Adler, a dazzling thief ''inserted into the picture in a pretty, flouncy red dress to add a splash of color and dispel a few hints of homoerotic subtext,'' he added. And Mark Strong is an evil aristocrat, executed for a string of murders, who returns from the dead to mobilize an ancient secret society. The movie ''is kind of cool'' and ''intermittently diverting,'' Mr. Scott wrote. ''Best of all is the banter between Mr. Downey and Mr. Law, who is looser and more mischievous than he's allowed himself to be in quite some time. The mustache suits him.''

10 A.M. (Fox News Channel) 9 YEARS LATER, THE 'REAL' COST OF FREEDOM Neil Cavuto reports on 9/11 commemorative events and discusses the state of the country with guests including former Gov. George E. Pataki; Richard A. Grasso, former chief executive of the New York Stock Exchange; and John N. Lieber, president of World Trade Center Properties. ''9/11: Timeline of Terror,'' at 4 and 9 p.m., chronicles the day's events through interviews with former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice; former Vice President Dick Cheney; and survivors and rescuers from the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

8 P.M. (Fox) COPS In this Season 23 premiere and 800th episode, a Florida police officer on foot chases a car while another goes in search of a boa constrictor in a residential community. In Texas a routine traffic stop results in a drug bust and a charge of grand theft auto. The 24th season of ''America's Most Wanted: America Fights Back,'' at 9, pays tribute to the ninth anniversary of 9/11 with a review of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The episode also profiles Adnan G. el-Shukrijumah, a Saudi-born American citizen and suspected Qaeda member who has been charged in a 2009 plot to bomb New York City subways.

9 P.M. (Starz) DID YOU HEAR ABOUT THE MORGANS? (2009) Hugh Grant and Sarah Jessica Parker play Paul and Meryl Morgan, divorcing Manhattanites who are secreted away to Wyoming after witnessing a murder. Sam Elliott is the United States marshal responsible for their protection, and Mary Steenburgen is his gun-toting, Sarah Palinesque wife. Their new home, the Morgans soon discover, is a place where PETA stands for People Eating Tasty Animals.

9 P.M. (Hallmark) FAIRFIELD ROAD (2010) After trading in his position in the Boston mayor's office for a dream job with a senator in Washington, Noah McManus (Jesse Metcalfe) thinks he has it made, until his new boss resigns in disgrace on the same day that Noah discovers that his girlfriend is cheating on him. So he does what any red-blooded American man might do and flees to the quaint Cape Cod town where he had planned on proposing to his ex, only to meet a bookstore owner (Natalie Lisinska) he might be able to love even more.

9 P.M. (BBC America) BEING HUMAN Mitchell (Aidan Turner) swears to exact revenge after learning the truth about Lucy (Lyndsey Marshal) and the vampire massacre. Nina (Sinead Keenan) returns, forcing George (Russell Tovey) to make the most difficult decision of his life. And Annie (Lenora Crichlow) decides it's time to pass on.

10 P.M. (Showtime 2) TWO LOVERS (2009) Joaquin Phoenix (right, with Vinessa Shaw) portrays Leonard Kraditor, a Brooklynite in his 30s who -- following a breakup and a breakdown -- lives in Brighton Beach with his parents (Moni Moshonov and Isabella Rossellini), works for his father's dry cleaning business and dabbles in photography. Gwyneth Paltrow is Michelle, a sophisticated, slightly unstable beauty newly arrived in Leonard's apartment building, where she is being kept by a married lawyer (Elias Koteas). And Ms. Shaw is Sandra, the daughter of an important business associate of Leonard's father, and an advantageous catch. But how can Leonard ever choose? Reviewing the film in The New York Times, A. O. Scott said that this story from the director James Gray (''Little Odessa'') ''is modest in scale, but the feelings that run through it are large and intense,'' as Leonard ''struggles with the conflicting demands of filial duty and the longing to strike out on his own.'' In the end ''the flaws in 'Two Lovers' are inseparable from its strengths,'' he added. ''You could, I suppose, criticize the movie for being too sincere; too generous to its imperfect, self-deluded characters; too absorbed in their small crises and disproportionate reactions. But that criticism might sound a lot like praise.'' KATHRYN SHATTUCK